Ramen no Jutsu!
by Ryuu Ken
Summary: What will Naruto do when Sasuke is planning on copying all of Naruto's moves at the upcoming tournament? Use jutsus that Sasuke would never use of course! Next chapter: Shino vs Gaara vs Naruto!
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Author's Note: For simplicity's sake Sasuke didn't run to Orochimaru, so there was no rescue mission. It fits the story better and this way I don't have to take the betrayal of Naruto in account. Although Sasuke didn't leave the village he still wants to kill Itachi at all costs. That means he'll be quite a bastard in this fic.

* * *

Far away from any forms of civilisation, and unfortunately far away from any form of feminine beauty stood Jiraiya, one of the Sennin and possibly the greatest pervert ever to have walked this world. At the moment the great Jiraiya wasn't in a very good mood as is student had just managed to blow up half of their campsite after his jutsu went wrong. Said student was none other than the number one surprising ninja; Naruto. The reason that this strange duo had forsaken civilisation was because in Naruto's belly a demon fox was locked up. Fifteen years ago the nine-tailed fox had attacked the Hidden Village of the Leaf, also known as Konoha. The ninja's there couldn't harm the giant beast, all the wounds they made healed almost as quickly and his chakra seemed as endless as the vast oceans themselves. In the end, the Hokage made a deal with Death and gave his soul so that that of the fox could be sealed away Naruto.

The villagers focussed all their hatred and anger on the poor boy who could not understand why he was hated so much. Alone and hated Naruto grew up. It was only when he reached the age of twelve, and graduated from the Ninja Academy that he found a precious few that accepted him for who he was. Determined to make the entire village acknowledge his existence, Naruto trained hard to rise in rank. Unfortunately the Chuunin Exams were cut short by an invasion and in the aftermath of that minor war, the Third Hokage lost his life to his traitorous student; Orochimaru. A new Hokage was needed and Jiraiya set out to find the person, Tsunade, together with Naruto. In the end, it was Naruto that managed to persuade Tsunade to come back and take the title of Godaime Hokage. Having added another precious person to his rather short list, Naruto is even more determined to show everybody who Uzumaki Naruto really is.

Now, a powerful group called the Akatsuki is after him for what is caged in him. The reason why they want the Kyuubi is unknown but after encountering two of the Akatsuki, Uchiha Itachi and his partner, the current Hokage decided that Naruto must go away to train and evade those that wished him harm. This was almost three years ago, and it is almost time for Naruto to return. In these three years, he has grown greatly, and matured a little. Where his younger self would complain and start shouting, the older Naruto thinks before he starts complaining. Naruto is eager to return home, and show his friends what he learned.

* * *

Jiraiya was smoking his pipe, a habit he had picked up from Sarutobi, the Third Hokage. It was his favourite pastime on a starry night such as this one. The sound of a body hitting the ground reached his ears and the white-haired Sennin smiled in pride. Although he would never admit it to the brat, Naruto was a determined learner and had a knack for never backing out. He was no genius, but a hard worker and had grown greatly. At the moment the blond haired ninja was fighting a mob of his Kage Bunshins while wearing weights to make him slower. This was Naruto's own way of training his endurance and battle tactics. Chuckling the pervert remembered one of Naruto's more ingenious and rather cunning ways of disabling his clone. Just as Jiraiya was about to get some sleep, a small orange toad by the name of Gamakichi, he was often selected as messenger between Tsunade and Jiraiya.

"Yo, got any candy for me?" the toad piped up.

Knowing it was the only way to get the message from him, the Sennin rummaged a little in his pockets and handed the toad some candy. "So, what is the message?"

Clearing his throat the toad spoke the words which he had learned by heart. "Jiraiya, get your perverted butt back here, three years has been long enough and I want to see the boy again." Grimacing at the tone Tsunade had spoken to him, through Gamakichi, the Toad-Sennin decided he might as well start travelling back, it had been long since he had spied on any bathhouse and Konoha certainly did have some good places to 'gather information'.

* * *

Speeding through the trees at a pace that they could keep for the rest of the day, Naruto and Jiraiya were heading for Konoha, they were one day's run away from the Hidden Village.

"Ne, Ero-Sennin? Why don't we use one of your travelling frogs?" the blond asked, breaking the silence.

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes at his student's nickname the pervert replied, "Because those frogs are my trademark and will only alert the Akatsuki of our presence.

Nodding his head, Naruto absentmindedly created five of his shadow clones to have them scout out the terrain ahead of them. The fact that he did make any handseals or that the clones appeared in a puff of smoke showed that he had truly mastered his favourite technique. After a few minutes, the blond lifted an eyebrow and created five more shadow clones and dismissed them his right. Seeing the questioning look in Jiraiya's eyes he softly explained. "One of my clones spotted campfire to our right, it's not far away from us. I sent more clones to investigate, we _are_ Leaf ninjas and this _is_ Fire Country."

Smiling softly to himself Jiraiya once again concluded that he had done a good job in teaching the boy. He was snapped out of his reverie when Naruto cursed under his breath.

"Kuso, one of my clones was spotted. They are alerted and will soon discover our presence." Naruto tilted his head slightly as if listening for something and then sighed. "They are wearing Leaf protectors. Do you wish our presence hear to remain a secret?"

The Sennin briefly thought it over. They could outrun the incoming ninjas or hide in a genjutsu, but it would be quite futile, as they were no enemies. "I think it would be best if we wait here for them. Would you like to do the honours?"

The prankster side of Naruto briefly surfaced as Jiraiya had just given him permission to guard their backs if something went wrong. Grinning like a madman he briefly concentrated and over fifty clones shimmered into existence. With a casual, "Scatter" all of them effortlessly blended into the foliage around Naruto and Jiraiya. Naruto then set a couple of traps that would create a lot of flashy bangs and smoke, for distraction. Satisfied that he had done enough, the demon vessel simply waited for their 'guests' to arrive.

* * *

Sighing to herself, Ten-Ten wondered why exactly she had agreed to go on one of Gai's trips. Grumbling as she was, Ten-Ten found it nice to see her old teammates again. She sometimes found herself missing Lee's antics and Neji's silent humour. After the disastrous Chuunin Exam three years ago he had considerably loosened up.

It had been almost two and a half years since they had been his team but he still considered them as such. And once every year he would still insist on training them.

And this time he had came up with the idea of a survival camp. So here they were, one day away from Konoha and they were supposed to stay here for a week. Her thoughts were cut short by Neji's voice.

"Something is watching us." He had just joined the ANBU, and the first lesson he had learned was to never let your guard down. Alerted by the Hyuuga's warning, Ten-Ten drew a handful of shuriken and fell into her fighting stance.

"YOSHI! IT IS TIME TO SHOW YOUR EVERBURNING FLAME OF YOUTH HAS NOT DIMINISHED!" Gai shouted with Lee adding a "GAI-SENSEI, THE FLAMING YOUTH WILL PREVAIL". Blocking the two out with years of practice, Ten-Ten and Neji sensed the person spying on them at the same time. Spinning around the weapons master let loose a volley of deadly metal.

_Byakugan._ After silently activating his Byakugan, Neji followed the fleeing figure, until he came across two large chakra signatures. Not bothering to try and identify them, he disactivated his Advanced Bloodline. "It was just a sentry, I sensed two people over there. We must investigate it further."

Waiting for Gai's nod of approval the team prepared themselves to pursue the sentry and unknowing all had had the same thought; _just like old times._

* * *

Chuckling in delight Naruto could hardly contain his glee at the devious plan he had concocted. Raising an eye-brow at the 'evil-master-mind chuckle' his student had emitted the pervert curiously asked "So what is your plan?" A fox grin appeared on Naruto's face.

"Remember that one time the Akatsuki sent their lackeys after us, and they tried to ambush us in the Country of Tea?" Jiraiya remembered and found himself chuckling along side with his student.

* * *

Cautiously Neji stepped into the clearance, he had purposely not activated his Byakugan, as of lately he started noticing that he was relying too much on his Bloodline and was trying to fighting without having it activated. Close by Ten-Ten followed him, a shiny and deadly weapon in her hands that he did not seem to recognise. Signalling towards Lee and Gai that he saw on enemy, the Hyuuga moved towards the centre of the clearing. He was about to activate his Byakugan when a voice rung out. "Leave or I will be forced to make you leave." It was near impossible to determine where the voice came from.

Naruto was having the time of his life, his prankster side was definitely taking over as he decided to kick it up a notch and spring the trap. Unceremoniously he dropped out of the tree he was hiding in and hit the ground fairly softly.

Out of the corner of his eye Neji saw a bundle of black clothing fall to the ground only to have it unfurl and take on the form of a human being. As the young ANBU activated his Byakugan, the figure made a flurry of handseals.

Finishing his genjutsu, Naruto just unleashed it, instead of shouting out the name of the technique at the top of his voice, he really couldn't understand why anybody would want to do such a thing. Grinning he watched his jutsu hit the four in front of him. As expected, Neji saw right through it and managed to dispel it but his companions were hit full force.

* * *

Lee furiously blinked, wondering where he was. He could vaguely recall being in a clearance, but as he looked around he was on a soft four-poster bed. As the young azure beast shook his head again to regain his focus, the door opened and Ten-Ten sauntered into the room. Lee's eyes bulged out of their sockets, as the weapon master was not wearing her regular outfit. Lee couldn't keep his eyes of the cotton bra and mini-skirt that accented her curves rather well. Seductively swaying her hips she climbed onto the bed and advanced on Lee, on all fours like a predator in the night ready to devour it's prey. Gulping and blushing heavily Lee backed away from Ten-Ten until the wall cut of his escape. Desperate to block the naughty thoughts he was getting Lee closed his eyes and prayed that when he opened the again, Ten-Ten would be gone.

Suddenly he felt something warm tickle his ear, followed by a throaty whisper. "Do you know that green is my favourite colour?" As a hand slowly snaked up Lee's chest, as the young man's heart started pounding as if he was running a marathon. Ten-Ten let out a low moan as she pressed herself against Lee's body, making the taijutsu expert almost faint. "That spandex is just so sexy, it really hugs your figure." reached Lee's ears as he felt something fall against his face. Against his will he opened to stare a white cotton bra and slowly he looked up.

"AAAAAAAAAHHH!" Blood flew out of Lee's nose, propelling him so hard backwards that he shot right through the wall.

* * *

Ten-Ten tried to remember why exactly she as in Neji's room. Deciding that it did not matter the Kunoichi sheathed her weapons. "Ten-Ten?" Neji's voice reached her. In a cloud of steam the Hyuuga stepped out of his shower. Seeing her former teammate in nothing but a towel made blood shoot to Ten-Ten's face. Trying her best not to act on all of her thoughts that would put Jiraiya's books to shame, the weapon master firmly looked away from Neji.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when a soft hand caressed her cheek. Despite herself she leaned into him, feeling every muscle in his torso. "Ten-Ten, you are incredibly sexy when try to ignore me like that." The hand on her cheek lowered itself to her shoulder and gently made her turn around. She couldn't keep her eyes of his chest, transfixed by his physique. She was as red as a tomato by now. With a soft thud a wet towel hit the ground, and Ten-Ten found her eyes wandering against her will.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" The force of the blood leaving Ten-Ten via her nose sent the Kunoichi air-born.

* * *

The sight of Lee, Ten-Ten and Gai being flung several feet backwards by the force of their blood made Naruto roll over the floor, howling in laughter. Jiraiya also rose from his position and started chuckling as he saw Neji's jaw nearly drop to the floor.

Quickly composing himself Naruto shook Neji out of his stupor. "Never thought I'd see a Hyuuga lose his composure. Never thought I'd see the great Hyuuga Neji get surprised."

Neji quickly came to his sense, there was something very familiar about the shinobi in front of him. He was completely dressed in black and his blond hair seemed to run unchecked. Suddenly it dawned on Neji, "Naruto? Is that you?"

Seeing the surprised look in Neji's eyes Naruto chuckled once more and nodded. "Yep, it's me. Oh, and don't worry about your teammates." Both Naruto and Jiraiya chuckled. "They should be waking up right about now." And true to his word, all three were stirring.

Lee's vision was rather blurry. Stumbling to his feet, the first thing he saw as his vision cleared a little was a rather perplexed Hyuuga Neji. Managing a small salute Lee spoke, "Neji, my flame of youth is once more rekindled." He was about to speak more when his eye fell on Ten-Ten. "Ten-Ten!"

Neji delicately lifted an eyebrow as Lee uttered the weapon master's name and promptly turned red, and only a second later he was once more propelled away, blood flowing freely out of his nose.

Noting Lee's even stranger behaviour, Ten-Ten looked around and spotted Neji. She said nothing but went from red to dark-red to air-borne.

By now Neji had a suspicion of what his teammates had envisioned in the genjutsu and silently thanked anybody up there for giving him his Byakugan. The amused Hyuuga eyed his rather stricken teacher. _I wonder who he saw? I hope it was a she though._ He shuddered and went back to observing Naruto. It was odd, but the blond hadn't shouted throughout the entire time, which was quite opposite of what Neji could remember of the blond.

Naruto patiently waited for all of the Leaf ninjas to compose themselves, and wipe themselves clean of blood. Suddenly a devilish smile came over Naruto's face, putting Ten-Ten and Lee on edge. Without warning the blond ninja clasped his hands together and shouted a "Henge!" As the smoke cleared Naruto was replaced by nobody other than Anko. Grinning she blew a small kiss to Gai who went beet red and flew right into a tree, effectively knocking himself unconscious. Laughing Naruto transformed back, and moments later Ten-Ten, Jiraiya, Lee and surprisingly Neji followed his example.

* * *

I'll leave it at this, I was planning on writing some more, but it didn't seem appropriate. Because of that I'll update within two days. Until then please tell me what you think, I'm curious.

Until the next chapter.


	2. Itadekimasu

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Reviews:

**Ayanami Rei II:** Thank you, Sasuke did not run away so he wasn't retrieved and yes, this is the two and a half training period like in the manga.

**Tea and Cocoa:** Thank you.

**Firehedgehog:** Your wish is my command grins and starts writing

**Die Kikyo Die:** You'll see in due time. grins

Now on with the story!

* * *

Tsunade, Godaime Hokage of the Leaf Village was currently at her very best; snoozing in that comfortable chair behind a wall of paperwork. At least, that was her current state mind as of right now, Tsunade was very angry and consequently very dangerous. 

Laughing nervously Jiraiya backed up against the wall, almost climbing up it in an attempt to get away. " Now really Tsunade, would I _ever_ try to look down the front of your dress?" As Tsunade cracked her knuckles, Jiraiya knew he was screwed. In a last ditch effort to get away from this she-demon, the old pervert tried the oldest trick in the book. "Look behind you, a three-headed monkey!"

Outside the Hokage's office, the Anbu on guard didn't bat an eyebrow as Jiraiya came crashing through the door. It seemed as though things had returned back to normal.

Grinning Naruto couldn't resist but rile the Hokage up even more. "Hi Oba-chan, you look even older than last time I saw you." His grin widened as a vein popped on Tsunade's head, and she advanced menacingly on the poor boy. He was about to run away as hard as he could when Tsunade threw herself at him with beast-like agility. Closing his eyes Naruto waited for the punch.

He was surprised when, instead of pummeling him into the ground, Tsunade chose to give him a hug. Clumsily, the Kyuubi vessel returned the hug, rather awkward, as he had never truly been hugged before.

Tsunade pulled back and took a good look at her little brother. He had matured, his blue eyes still sparkled in mirth but no longer did he hide behind the mask. No plastic, fake smile adorned his face. Her little brother had also quieted down, and his voice had deepened into a melodious tenor. He was a little shorter than Kakashi, yet held him with a dignity lost on the silver-haired pervert. All things Tsunade wanted to say died in her throat as Naruto smiled warmly at him, brightening Konoha considerably. "Welcome home, Naruto."

* * *

"Hey Old man, another one please!" It had been three years since Naruto had visited Ichiruka Ramen, and both Naruto and the owner were happy to see each other again. Naruto did not immediately dig into his favorite food, but instead found his mind wandering back to the conversation he had held earlier with Tsunade.

_FLASHBACK_

"_You do realise that your are the only Genin left of your year?" Tsunade asked while gently sipping on her tea. She had shifted back into her 'Hokage' mode and was currently talking about Naruto's absence. "Add in that none of use really know how much you have grown, it would be rather foolish to appoint you to a rank." _

_Expecting Naruto to start screaming about being the only Genin left, Tsunade smiled when her little brother merely nodded and waited for her to continue. "So I've decided to throw a small tournament." She could see that he was interested. "Two weeks from now, you will fight your comrades in order to gauge how strong you are."_

_Naruto smiled, this would truly get interested. "In that case, if you would please excuse me Hokage-sama, I have to go and train."_

_END FLASHBACK_

Still not eating, Naruto smiled at that memory. He would be able to show everybody how much he had grown. His smile dimmed a little when his thoughts returned to the meeting between the last of the Uchiha and himself.

_FLASHBACK _

_Hungry for ramen, Naruto quickly exited the Hokage Tower and hurried across the street. His desire to eat was so great that he did not look where he was going and consequently bumped into someone. This someone turned out to be none other the Uchiha Sasuke. "Hello Sasuke, how are you doing?"_

_Sasuke smirked in return. "If it isn't the dead-last." he sneered. "If I recall you are still a Genin, you really are pathetic. And to think you thought of me as a rival." The raven-haired boy hadn't changed much. He was taller and his hair was a little longer, but nothing more had changed save for his cocky attitude._

_Naruto who was not about to be outdone by some stuck-up Uchiha proudly retorted. "Well the Hokage is organising a tournament for me so that I can prove my worth." To his amazement, Sasuke started laughing._

_"Kukukuku. The you will show us how much you have grown, and then" Sasuke's eyes flashed red, Sharingan blazing "then I shall copy all of your jutsus, making me stronger than ever." Taking no further notice of Naruto, Sasuke stalked past the blond and quickly disappeared in the flow of people._

_END FLASHBACK _

Naruto was torn as to what he should do. He wanted to win that tournament and make Tsunade proud, but then Sasuke would know all his moves and he didn't want that to happen either. It wasn't until he was about to devour his ramen that the solution hit him. With a fox-grin on his face Naruto slammed down some cash. Blue eyes blazing he took off, halting only for a quick "Itadekimasu!". As the bowl of ramen stood there, untouched, Naruto was on the move. _Where to find him?_ Laughing, Naruto continued on his search. _Just wait Sasuke, I _will_ defeat you without using my regular techniques!_

* * *

As Chouji was enjoying his dinner at the All-You-Can-Eat BBQ, a flash of blond and black appeared next to him. "Naruto is that you?" not waiting for an answer the chubby boy made some room. "Here, sit down and eat with me."

Politely declining the invitation, Naruto decided to get right to the point. "Listen Chouji, I need your help. As one food-obsessed man to another. Please teach me the legendary 'food jutsus'."

Squinting his eyes, the chubby boy observed the blond in front of him. Coming to a conclusion he ruefully shook his head. "I am sorry Naruto, but those jutsus are sacred to us food-obsessed men. They are passed on from generation to generation and only those of the Itadekimasu are allowed to learn them."

After some rummaging around in his pockets, Naruto managed to find a small card and triumphantly handed it over to Chouji. "Here is my membership card."

After carefully studying the card, Chouji verified its authenticity. "It's and Itadekimasu membership card alright, but that doesn't prove anything. You could have found it." The chubby boy's eyes narrowed, and a sly grin spread over his face. "Do you know the Itadekimasu handshake?"

Gulping Naruto nodded. From out of nowhere he found an orange hat that resembled a chopstick the size of his head. Chouji soon followed with the same headwear. The two food-obsessed boys faced each other and grasped each other right arm.

Grinning, Naruto started the Itadekimasu handshake. "Ita" and he grabbed Chouji's left underarm thus crossing his arms. Chouji then did the same while shouting, "deki".

Both boys released each other while flying through a different number of handseals and ended up with the tiger seal.

"masu!" They both chorused and as their hats both vanished it suddenly started raining ramen and chips around the two boys. Grinning Chouji shook Naruto's hand. "You really are of the Itadekimasu. Now I can teach you food jutsus."

Nodding happily, Naruto stopped it raining ramen and chips with a muttered "Kai." and happily followed Chouji.

* * *

Well that's all for now. Next chapter will be longer, and hopefully quicker written than this one. The reason for the delay was my irritating little brother who accidentally deleted large portions of my fanfics and important homework. So I've spent this time rewriting summaries and written assignments and only managed to get to Ramen no Jutsu this morning.

End of rant.

Until the next chapter!


	3. Shrimp Ramen

Summary: In order to prevent Sasuke from copying all Naruto's jutsus in the upcoming tournament, Naruto seeks out Chouji to learn the ' legendary food jutsus'

* * *

Panting heavily, the Kyuubi carrier finished his own training with his clones. It was the day after Chouji had agreed to start training Naruto in the food jutsus but before that the big-boned shinobi had ordered Naruto to prepare himself.

And thus, Naruto was training. He had started out by dancing. Funny as it might sound, it was more difficult than Naruto had first anticipated when Jiraiya had proposed it.

At first he had to create a band out of shadow clones and then make his partner. This alone demanded a lot of concentration on Naruto's part. And then they would dance.

The catch was, as all ninja games have catches, was that both dancers were armed but they were only allowed to attack whilst continuing to dance. This improved Naruto's agility greatly. And added to that, it was fun.

His favourite dance at the moment was the salsa, partly because of the swift fighting style he could corporate in it but also because the trumpet player in the 'band' had a very good solo.

Glancing at the sun, Naruto realised he was late with his meeting with Chouji. Without so much as a wave his hand the 'band' poofed out of existence and the blonde ninja sped of to the Akimichi residence.

* * *

Sunset found both food-obsessed facing each other, seated on some comfortable pillows. "Come on Naruto, you have to see every individual string of ramen in you mind." Chouji told Naruto for the nth time.

Gritting his teeth in irritation, Naruto tried again. Concentrating hard on the image of a steaming cup of ramen, the Kyuubi carrier tried again. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

For a moment is seemed as if something would happen but then with a rather wet and rude sound, the cup disappeared in a poof of smoke. Resisting the urge to unleash Kyuubi's powers in order to vent some steam, Naruto decided he would need some distraction from his frustrating attempts.

"So, who else in the village knows these food jutsus?" Chouji closed his eyes for a moment, in deep thought and then starting ticking the people of with his hand. "First, and most obviously is of course Anko who is addicted to dango." Chuckling Chouji continued about the vicious kunoichi. "She's not someone you'd want to cross. Those dango sticks of here making fine throwing material."

"Second, is of course my father. As clan leader of the Akimichi it is his duty to know them. And then there is Tsunade-sama who uses the jutsu to sneak sake past her assistant." Chouji glanced around to make sure there was nobody that could overhear them and dropped his voice to a whisper so low that Naruto had to lean forward in order to hear what the Akimichi heir said.

"And then there are rumours that the infamous, S-classed nukenin Uchiha Itachi is addicted to pocky and had copied the food jutsus for his own devious plans….obtaining all the pocky in the world." Bringing his voice level back to normal, Chouji sent Naruto on his way. "I have to go clean my room now or my mom will have my hide. But practice and you'll have them mastered in a few days.

After thanking Chouji for his help, Naruto set of to his dingy apartment to get some needed sleep. That night, Naruto dreamed of pink ramen clouds and pocky stealing weasels.

* * *

Iruka quickly made his way to the arena. It had been two weeks since his favourite student had returned from his three year absence and short of his visit to the Hokage, nobody had seen him since.

So sunken in thought that the chuunin wasn't paying much attention to his surroundings and now the scarred teacher suddenly found himself flat on his back.

"Neh, shouldn't a ninja always be aware of his surroundings?" an amused voice queried. Before an ashamed Iruka could answer, the stranger helped the chuunin up. "Don't worry about it. Everybody makes a mistake now and then, just make sure you learn from them or you'll find yourself on the wrong end of a jutsu one day."

Iruka could practically sense the smile the man sent his way. Taking a moment to observe the figure, Iruka couldn't help but feel impressed. The man was wearing a black cloak with hood that did not give away any of his features. The cloak also prevented Iruka from seeing any weaponry or armour. Despite his intimidating clothes, the chuunin did not feel afraid, the man radiated warmth and power in equal measure and the way he carried himself was self-assured and battle-ready.

With a last nod to Iruka, the figure once more sped away, leaving the chuunin in a cloud of dust.

* * *

Tsunade was not very concerned. Although it had been two full weeks since she had seen the person she viewed as a little brother, the Snail-Sennin had full confidence that Naruto would arrive in time.

Moving to the centre of the arena, Tsunade started her speech. "Today, you have all been summoned her to gauge the strength of a Konoha ninja. The village elders and clan leaders are present to witness that all is done fair." Taking a breath, Tsunade turned to address the former 'Rookie Nine plus three' who where present with their former Jounin team leaders. "You are here to fight the ninja one on one. Treat this as a real-life battle, but refrain from any killing blows. The match will continue untill one party gives up or is unconscious."

Aware that plenty other ninja's and villagers had turned up to see this mystery ninja take on some of Konoha's gifted shinobi, Tsunade signalled the tournament to start.

Ibiki strode to into the arena and loudly announced the first fighter. "First fighter: Inuzuka Kiba!"

With a loud yell the dog-nin launched himself over the rail and landed in the arena with a slight crouch. A second later a wolf-sized Akamaru followed.

From a corner of the arena, Naruto observed the loud Inuzuka as he strutted towards the centre of the arena. Chuckling softly at the irony of fate; he was once again facing Kiba at the start of a tournament in the arena where he had fought a Chuunin exam years ago.

Letting Ibiki know with a subtle shifting of his chakra that he was present and ready to fight, the blonde ninja started thinking of several battle plans in rapid order.

Sensing the other opponent Ibiki raised his hand and then swiftly lowered in a chopping moment. "Start the match."

Leaving Kiba looking around him, the interrogation specialist leapt next to the Hokage.

With a smile on her face Tsunade murmured to Ibiki, "A night drinking says Kiba is going to get his ass handed to him." Smiling faintly, Ibiki thought it over. "Deal, but two days says Neji defeats him." "Deal." Tsunade could hardly contain her glee. She may be the legendary sucker but when Naruto was involved, she never lost.

* * *

Ino was feeling very bored. Since she had recently been promoted to the interrogation squad, the kunoichi had rarely had the chance to take a day off. And when she finally managed to do so, the Hokage had ordered her to participate in a tournament.

She had nobody to talk with. Shikamaru was snoring gently, Chouji was watching the non-existent fight, Sakura was fawning over Sasuke and the left Ino all alone.

Sighing, the Yamanaka was startled when below her Kiba suddenly yelped in pain. The yelp turned most attention of the 'Rookie Nine' back to the tournament.

* * *

Neji was stumped. After Kiba had been hit by _something_, the Hyuuga had activated his Byakugan but was unable to find anything.

"What do you see cousin?" A soft voice to his left asked. "Nothing Hinata, nothing at all." Unable to keep wonder from his voice, Neji once more scanned the arena floor.

* * *

Grinning Naruto clung to the wall like a fly. Unable to contain his prankster side, Naruto snuck up on Tsunade and then softly shouted, "BOO!". Cackling like made the Kyuubi carrier was gone before Tsunade had gotten a chance to retaliate.

On the stands many viewers' attention was caught by a mad cackle that seemed to echo around the arena.

Growling Kiba had enough! First he had been hit by something right out of nowhere and now his opponent was laughing at him from behind his back. "If we can't smell or see this guy we'll just have to mark him right Akamaru?"

Not waiting for his faithful dog to bark an affirmative the Inzukua crouched low and motioned his dog to do the same. "Yosh Akamaru, prepare for Inuzuka aerodynamic marking!"

Whilst Hinata, Shino and Kurenai paled considerably and collectively ducked for cover, Kiba launched his faithful dog in to the air and a rotating Akamaru let loose a rain of urine

Naruto had to use all his skills to prevent the dog urine from reaching him. Even though the blonde ninja was busy using his rather able skills to dodge the yellow rain, he managed to see a particular nasty and big blob hit the last Uchiha smack in his face.

Mentally congratulating Kiba with the rather spectacular hit, Naruto decided it was time to show himself. He wouldn't want the spectators to be subjected to another rain of smelly liquid and judging by the murderous glared Kiba was receiving it would be doubtful if the dog user would live long enough to try another volley.

Everybody's attention was brought back to the arena when a man disappeared right out of nowhere, slowly clapping. A black cloak lay at his feet but the rest of his visage was obscured by a bandana and a nondescript white facemask, much like the ANBU but without any markings. His gloved hands stopped their mocking applause.

"That was quite something Inuzuka-san, made me drop my cloak as I didn't want it to get dirty. You see, it was quite expansive and urine is very hard to get rid of." As if the shinobi, who of course is Naruto, sensed that everybody was wondering what was so important about his cloak he explained. "This cloak has a nondescript smell on it, muffles your own sound, is warm in the winter, cool in the summer and it has special chakra threads woven into it, which have some interesting effects. And besides," Naruto continued, "It makes me look cool." He said it as if that was the only reason Naruto wore the cloak.

Not waiting for Kiba regain his focus after his last, and rather off-hand remark, the blond ninja sped towards his opponent and started if with a few quick jabs to the gut.

It was only Kiba's beast-like reflexes that saved him from being hit. Desperate to get away from the black fighter, Kiba dropped a smoke bomb and somersaulted away.

As soon as the smoke parted, it became obvious that Kiba had used the time to team up with his dog, Akamaru. Nartuo got a strange feeling of déjà vu as he saw two beast-like Kiba's softly growling at him. Not wanting to be on the receiving end of a Tsuuga, Naruto raised his hands to form some seals.

Sasuke snapped to attention as the black shinobi, which he suspected to be Naruto, raised his hands to form seals. Quickly activating his Sharingan, a bloodline jutsu which enabled him to copy jutsus. Sharingan blazing, the young Uchiha focused on the seals the black-clad ninja was making.

Grinning like a fox under his face mask, Naruto raced through a number of seals that he had practised day in day out, nearly two weeks long. Finishing before Kiba could react, Naruto shouted out the name of his jutsu, defiance and mirth in his voice.

"Ramenton: Ramen Bunshin no Jutsu!"

**

* * *

Ramenton: Ramen Bunshin no Jutsu: Ramen style: Ramen clone**

That's it for this chapter, hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for the reviews, anyquestions will be answered in the next chapter.'

Untill then,

Ja ne!


	4. Miso Ramen

The story is a tad fast-pace and shorter than I'd hoped. Nevertheless, I'm curious to your comments. For now, enjoy the next chapter of Ramen no Jutsu.

Ryuu Ken

* * *

Grinning like a fox under his face mask, Naruto raced through a number of seals that he had practiced day in day out, nearly two weeks long. Finishing before Kiba could react, Naruto shouted out the name of his jutsu, defiance and mirth in his voice. 

"Ramenton: Ramen Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Ignoring the stunned silence that greeted his jutsu, Naruto proudly grinned as six clones poofed into existence. The blonde flipped the pair of speechless Sharingan wielders his finger before the mob charged into combat.

"Ha, you're pathetic little clones won't save you from our teamwork. Akamaru, let's go!" With a guttural war-cry, the two launched themselves towards the oncoming mob, ready to defeat their opponent. As soon as Kiba and his dog were in range, they started up a combo, their Gatsuuga.

Seeing the two drill-like attacks coming towards them, the group quickly scattered, not wanting to get caught in the vicious attack.

**Sheesh, this is getting old. Just quit playing around and finish him off already. And while you're at it, SPILL HIS BLOOD! BLOOD! BLOOOOOOOOOOOD!**

Ignoring the crazy fox that had more moodswings than a cranky old woman, Naruto nevertheless decided to quite playing around. "Alright guys, listen up. We're going to hold him in place, got it?" Not waiting for a reply, the real Naruto started tossing smokebombs around, quickly covering the entire arena within seconds.

Kiba sneered at the very pathetic attempt to try to defeat him. _The idiot must not know that we Inuzuka can rely on our noses to sniff the enemy out._ "Come Akamaru, this time we won't miss. Gatsuuga!"

* * *

On the stands, the spectators watched as Kiba and Akamaru dove into the smoke. Sasuke was livid. The dobe had out-smarted him. There was no way in hell that he was going to use those thrice-damned Ramen Jutsus, he was an Uchiha after all. Grinding his teeth, he vowed that he would make Naruto pay when his turn came to fight the blonde. 

Byakugan active, Neji was watching the whole fight with a faint smile. Not too large of course, he _did_ have a reputation to uphold. The smoke did not obscure his Bloodline Limit, and the ninja had no trouble following the fight.

"What is it Neji, what do you see?" Ten-Ten curiously asked. She was intrigued by the stranger's moves and strange jutsus. The weapons' user couldn't help but shake of a feeling that she had seen the masked ninja before.

Neji considered the question for a moment and softly answered his teammate. "I see a battle that is reaching it's end. Kiba will lose." Any reply Ten-Ten might have was cut short when the smoke cloud dissipated and a curious sight greeted their eyes.

Kiba and his dog were being held in place by lumps of human-shaped ramen, Naruto's Ramen Clones. As the spectators tried the regain their senses, one particular lump of ramen formed itself into the shape of a grinning Naruto. "Well Kiba, looks like you're slightly tied up."

Snarling Kiba drove his fist into Naruto's stomach, only to find his hand passing through the clone. Before the dog-nin could retract his arm, the ramen solidified, trapping the ninja's arm. Other parts of Kiba and his beast-clone were also being restrained by the strange clones.

It was a strange tug-of-war that followed. Kiba was trying to get out by releasing large amounts of chakra, whereas the clones would use more ramen to grapple the ninja. This stalemate continued until Akamaru released his beast-clone form and was instantly buried in ramen. The possibility that his faithful dog might be dead caused Kiba to start a Tsuuga on the spot, making ramen scatter everywhere.

Neji saw it coming and ducked accordingly. Ino wasn't so lucky and a glob of ramen caught her right in the face. Similar things happened to many of the spectators. While Ino was ranting about stupid ninjas that screwed up her perfect hair, Kiba rushed over to the huge mound of noodles in which his dog had disappeared.

It was the last mistake Kiba would make that day. Just as the dog-nin reached the mound of noodles, he suddenly froze. It was as if the Inuzuka was struggling against invisible bounds as his hands formed a single seal.

"No way!" The normally very laid-back Nara Shikamaru had lost his composure. "No way" he repeated, this time more softly. Not noticing the inquisitive gaze of his fellow ninjas, the lazy mastermind finished his sentence. "That's the seal for Kagemane no Jutsu."

"Ramen Mane no Jutsu, success." Came a calm voice from within the ramen. Knowing the battle was over, Naruto dismissed all his clones and the excess ramen, save the ramen that was holding Kiba down. Globs of ramen disappeared in puffs of smoke, and the large mound in the center of the arena revealing an unconscious Akamaru and the strange ninja that had somehow managed to use the Shadow Bind, a jutsu that the Nara were widely known for.

"You made one mistake too many today Kiba. And therefore, you fell for my Ramen Bind. This match is over. When you moved to save your dog, my noodle strings wrapped themselves around you, making it impossible for you to move. There is no other way out then death." Naruto's voice lost its cheerfulness and with a cold voice he spoke "Give up now, or die."

Kiba, who was trying to break free, shivered at the cold tone of voice. Knowing he had no other choice he met the strangers eyes. "I surrender."

Smiling from underneath his white facemask, Naruto released Kiba from his Bind and backed up so that the medics could take care of the meager wounds that Kiba and Akamaru had sustained.

* * *

On the stands, Tsunade smugly gave Ibiki the signal to start the next match. The interrogation specialist cursed under his breath, not understanding how he could have lost a bet against the Legendary Sucker. 

Landing in the middle of the arena, the mere presence of the scary Jounin caused the medics to hasten the treatment of their patients. Curious who the stranger was, Ibiki struck up a conversation with the ninja.

"Nice tricks you have there, must have taken you pretty long to perfect them." For measure, Ibiki putting a little killing-intent into his words.

"Hmm" Came the non-committal answer.

Blinking, the Jounin tried again. "If it were me, I'd have _killed_ that kid." Shifting slightly, the interrogation expert heavily stressed the word killing, while subtly playing with his kunai.

"You want some ramen?" Came the unfazed and rather unexpected reply.

Caught off-guard by the offer, Ibiki stuttered for a moment before regaining his composure. "Er, yeah, ehm, no thanks. Get ready, it's time for your next fight."

_And that's one point for me and zilch for Ibiki._ With a satisfied grin on his face, not that anybody could see it, Naruto slurped up the last of the noodles and rubbed his hands, gleefully anticipating his next opponent.

* * *

Sasuke was steaming. First he had been showered with dog urine, next with ramen. And last but not least, the jutsus Naruto used were so utterly degrading that he wouldn't use them if his life depended on it. _Just you wait Dobe. Just wait._

Shikamaru had recovered from the shock of seeing one of his family jutsus used by a complete stranger. _Although, perhaps not quite a stranger. He seems to have an intimate knowledge on our fighting styles._ An IQ of over 200 was already thinking hard on the identity of the masked ninja.

Haruno Sakura was glaring at the unknown ninja. Because of him her precious Sasuke was not paying her any attention. She was sure that her crush would easily defeat the masked ninja and continued to fawn over the Uchiha.

Tenten was mildly curious who the foreign ninja was, but not overly so. She was more interested in getting back to perfecting her latest weapon. Seeing a new fight was about to start, the weapon user straightened in her seat and paid close attention to the two contestants.

* * *

Seeing the nod Tsunade gave him, Ibiki started the second match. "Second match, Aburame Shino versus the unknown ninja…Hajime!" As Ibiki hurriedly left the arena, Shino was busy calling forth his kikai bugs. 

While Shino was occupied with bringing his bugs to the battle, Naruto had formed a half dozen clones and was flying through a set of seals, after which they bit their thumb and collectively cried; "Ryouton: Kuchiyose no Jutsu! (Food style: Summoning technique)"

A huge cloud of smoke followed and when it cleared, there were ceramic bowls filled to the brim with ramen and a pair of chopsticks were littering the entire arena. Shino's response was an articulate raised eyebrow.

The Aburame brought his hands in front of him, palms pointing towards Naruto. The bugs followed the movement and a black cloud hovered in front of the stoic ninja, not unlike Gaara's sand.

Concentrating, Naruto did the same thing. Bringing chakra to his fingers he started focussing. The effect was noticeable. At first the bowls nearest to Naruto started shaking, then it spread, like water rippling. From the bowls rose the ramen, moving much like the black cloud of his opponent.

On the stands, the spectators looked on with awe. Many already knew of the control Shino had with his bugs, but never had they seen such a strange technique as the one the masked ninja was using now.

Poised for battle, both combatants summoned their respective 'cloud' towards them and prepared for battle.

Just as Naruto slammed his hands into the ground, sending his ramen flying towards Shino and Shino gave the signal for his kikai bugs to surge forwards, the door of the arena opened, breaking the focus of both fighters and halting the battle.

"Ehm, we're not late are we?" A nervous Kankurou asked, aware of the tension in the air. He was about to say more when his sister bonked him on the head with her fan and pulled him of towards the stands.

This left Gaara, the Kazekage, standing. Arms crossed and face blank, the Tanuki-vessel surveyed both fighters, eyes lingering on the clouds of bugs and ramen. "Temari, Kankorou, go." Seeing the question in their eyes, the redhead answered their unspoken question. "I'm going to turn this fight into a three-way battle." Since no-one objected to his statement, Gaara quickly shrugged of his Kage hat.

Smirking slightly, Gaara commanded his sand in front of him. Snapping to attention, Naruto and Shino did the same thing. Silence fell as the onlookers were drawn into what promised to be a battle of absolute mayhem and destruction. And then, at an unspoken signal all three started their attack.

"BAKURYU RYUSA! (Desert Avalanche)"

"RAMENKUHA! (Ramen Blast)

"Kikaiyuuheki!" (Kikai rising wall)

* * *

Sorry for the late update but I stumbled on a minor writers block. 

You can vote on who the next opponent(s) should be.

And thank you to everyone who reviewed, won't thank everybody personally anymore because of board rules. But thanks again.

Untill next time.


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